Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-02-25
THUNDER STORMS.
The Cause Assigned by German sa-
wants for Their Continuous In
crease During the Last
Forty Years.

Ell upon the continent, Dotn IN france
and Germany. for the number and Sc
verify of its thunder-storms. In this
country the number Of thunder forms
in 1886 was below the average. and
nothing occurred To draw any special
attention to these displays Of the males
tic forces Of nature But in Germany.
particularly. certain amount of I'M
easiness has been caused by the publ
cation of official statistics which show
beyond all question that. in that coun-
try. at least thunder-storms have been
SO far rs can be judged by the injury
inflicted on life and property, in sever
ity Also ever since the record was COM
menced in 1874. The German savants
have. thefore. been paying good deal
of attention to the phenomena OF thun-
der-storms and the question naturally
arises whether any reasonable cause
can be ass gned for their cont nuous in
crease during the last forty years. Is
| it d lie TO purely naturally causes. such
as are altogether beyond human con-
troll? Or is it in any way the result of
the cond,t ons of modern civilization?
And If so. can anything be done to
mend this undesirable state of things?
At first sight the latter question may
seem rather extravaganza; nevertheless,
the Germans are inclined to answer in
the Affirmative They are decidedly of
! opinion that the increase of thunder
storms is to be attributed 10 artificial
causes. and that something might GER
tainly be done To diminish their fire.
quencv. Before stating the + views we
would hazard the opinion that they
will not be accepted without free
or ticism Long ago Franklin taught
us how to erect metallic rods project
ing AZ one end above the topmo,t roofs
of our buildings. and buried n the
other end in the soil. and br this means
to conduct the dangerous ,charge
hnrnlc>Sly to earth. Since Frauklin'S
time we have made one step in advance
in thi, matter. and until quite recently
only one The early Lightning conduc-
tors terminated in round knobs. With
this construction the lightning could be
seen viS bly To strike the conductor
and thi, WAS considered a very salts
factor, result and indeed it was bet
ter than nothing. But At the close OF
the last century Richmann. OF St.
Petersburg. while eXperim -nting with
such an apparatus, received a discharge
which killed him on the spot. although
no storm was previously raging. \
little later it was discovered that con
ductor, had more important office to
fulfill; if they were made pointed 40 the
end. they re capable NOT mer.I OF
conducting a flash safely to the
ground. but Of absolutely prevent me-
the instantaneous discharge of cleo
triciiy in their own immediate M yh-
borhood: provided. however. that the
electric ten sion did not rise beyond
some (st II unknown limit The ex.
pertinent may be repeated with any
city. Ii knob j, presented to the
charged conductor. il spark. accom-
panied by a sharp defamation, will b.
gwen off; but if a sharp point be-
used instead Of the knob, there i no
flash and no sudden noise. the electric
ity passes quietly away, with, perhaps
a Little blue light at the end of the
point, accompanied by Slight kissing
sound Accordingly, all modern light
ming conductors are made with very
sharp points, and the upper part is or
should be gilded, so II, to preserve the
fine p int from the corrosive act on OF
the atmosphere. SIX months ago Prof.
Hughes announced that from series
Of theoretical researches. of too alb
struse character 10 be entered upon
here. he had arrived at the conclusion
that lightning conductor should be
made the form of wide. flat ribbon
and not As u solid rod, at least in that
part which comes in contact with the
build NJ.
But notwithstandin 9 our knowledge
OF such efectual and simple means of
preserving our buildings from the dis
astrouS effects of lightning stroke,
we vet remain very much in the dark
upon the whole subject of atmospheric
electr city. and especially upon the inn
mediate cause of thunder-storms. The
difficulty lies not SO much in the ac-
counting for the fact that IA cloud is
sometimes. or even usually. found to-
be charged with electricity; the enigma
which remains unsolved is to explain
how it Is that during thunderstorm
this charge of electricity is so rapidly
renewed and regenerated after each
discharge 1t Is rash TO argue too con-
iidently from the behavior of the scin-
tillaiiou- which we produce at will in
our laboratories to the magnificent ex-
hib ON of the power of those occult